We need a new car

[chistinawc]

We have a 2002 Honda CRV that started as a lease, but then we bought out the lease for $12,000, which seemed like a smart move at the time b/c we would have a $10,000 bonus that summer and would pay it off.  Then came the bonus and a new job, relocation and the money went to the move, so we made payments of $346 for the past four years.  No longer the great deal we thought.  We currently owe $4800, but the car has $130,000 miles on it and needs a couple thousand in repairs - timing belt and some other things.  It is making noises and just does not feel safe to me.  It is our only car.  The plan was to pay off the CRV and then get me a small car like a Honda Fit.  But at this point, we are considering trading the CRV in and getting a Fit instead and continuing to live with one car.  I'm really bummed about that, b/c I'd love the freedom to actually go places during the day.  I work from home and we walk to school.  However, the school is moving next year, so we will not be able to walk and we're going to need to work out the driving situation.  My husband has some flexibility so this is not out of the question, but is certainly not convenient.  The primary problem is that we do not have the cash to put into the CRV and will not have this, and we clearly need a reliable vehicle.  I've been wondering if it might be possible to wrap the $5000 we owe on the CRV into the Fit payment (if we finance through Honda Finance again) and keep both.  Anyone have experience with this or advice on this?  Maybe we should just lease the Fit and trade in the CRV?

[zebra15]

Rule #1 of car buying DO NOT LEASE.

Rule #2 find out what your current vehicle is worth, yes you owe 5k but your current car isnt worth zero?

you can possible sell your current car to a private party for more $$ than doing a trade in.

rule #3 everything is negotiable

[lookatreestar]

i'd pay off the crv, and get a fit later on. make the repairs, imo a 2002 car is not old and a honda should run well over 130000 miles.

[karne]

Honda has had a good 0% promotion going on, but I also agree that a Honda should get more mileage.  I have 130K and expect to get to 200K.  I have always driven to the end of my car's life, or at least until safety becomes truly an unfixable issue.

[mnnice]

Originally Posted by lookatreestar 

i'd pay off the crv, and get a fit later on. make the repairs, imo a 2002 car is not old and a honda should run well over 130000 miles.

As long as you replace the time belt before it breaks. I was going to say the same thing.  Even in my cold, road salt heavy location crv's seem to have aged well and still look pretty good.  If you don't have the cash for the repair and have credit to me it would be worth taking on a bit of debt to keep your car going. 

[sarafi]

Have you asked about the rear differential fluid? This is a well known problem with CRV's which cause them to make crazy noise and feel "unsafe" but can be fixed very cheaply, sometimes by yourself.

Do you have a mechanic you trust, or have you gotten a few different quotes? Just chatting people up in the library, playgroup, wherever you should be able to get a few good leads and some scare stories on local mechanics.

Just asking b/c we bought a used CRV for $500 (70,000 km) that just needed the fluid changed, but two different owners had been too afraid to get it fixed thinking it would be a huge expense.

My vote would be fix the CRV and save for a new car. If you could afford another car payment/lease you should be able to afford to save the same amount of money for a new car.

If you roll your debt into a new loan and then have the bad luck to total the new car (doesn't take a huge accident to do this) you will not get the price you financed back, but the depreciated value of the car that was wrecked. This would scare me away from driving altogether :-)